relantel wrote:Speaking of the strike - anyone know if the 8 eps of 24 that were already in the can at that point were used for the following season or tossed aside? For some reason I recall them starting fresh but it's been a number of years.

I remember reading a quote from Cherry Jones (President Taylor) about postponing filming, so I have to believe they were used at the start of season 7. Maybe tonight I'll look and see if there are any obvious differences in hairstyles or anything.

Filming was held up too because of those bad wildfires California sustained that fall.

Continuining the AD talk, when looking for articles about the cancellation I found a MetaFilter page discussing the show. Some people loved it, more hated it, but I found this particular post pretty enlightening:

I'm serious though, I only saw one episode and it didn't make any sense at all. There was an old dude living in the attic (I guess the father), I had no idea why. And then there was some sub plot about a seal that had bitten someone else in the cast released.

An estranged husband and wife hid in someone's shower in order to collect a girl's urine to see if she was pregnant, at which point they had sex or something in the shower.

And some kid wanted to join the army, much to the Chagrin of his mother, who was like the matriarch of the family.

I'm sorry, but it was like a collection of totally random elements. I have no idea why anyone would find it funny or certainly find it "character driven" The characters were facing completely bizarre situations and not acting that strange, I mean, how is it realistic to be worrying about your daughter's relationship while your father is hiding in an attic and all this other crazy stuff.

The show was nonsense.

If you missed any episode of the show, none of it made a single bit of sense. You really couldn't even watch season two without having seen season one. You had to be a dedicated viewer on a weekly basis. That issue had to play a huge role in the show's poor ratings and subsequent cancellation, but also in the show's revival. I watched AD on Hulu and made it through all three seasons in a couple days. Not only was every episode available to me, but the show no longer required a weekly commitment. Couple days and I was done and on to something else (I watched it again).

newarenanow wrote:Never seen an episode of AD. I need to get it on Netflix or something.

I watched it in the fall for the first time in a very short run on netflix and it was one of the best tv experiences I've had. I'm really thinking about watching it again before the new season, it's that hilarious.

Not sure how I feel about 24 coming back. I absolutely loved the first 5 seasons, but it really went downhill after that. Didn't help that the president was putrid the last couple seasons, to say the least.

the wicked child wrote:Not sure how I feel about 24 coming back. I absolutely loved the first 5 seasons, but it really went downhill after that. Didn't help that the president was putrid the last couple seasons, to say the least.

The new show is a 12-hour limited event called 24: Live Another Day. Kiefer Sutherland has officially signed on to return to the role, which will follow the same 24-hour format of the original series, but condensed to 12 hours, with uneventful hours skipped.

I am very confident in it. If you look at a season like Day 6, the one that nearly everyone says the wheels started to come off, the first four hours are really really good. And at the 12th hour the interesting suitcase nuke storyline ended, and the lame Chang/Audrey one started.

I think they began to suffer from having to fill 24 episodes. Thats when you start getting stuck adding moles, invasions of CTU, cougars hunting Kim, Martha Logan going berserk, etc. By condensing the time frame they can cut out a bunch of really ridiculous filler.

If this is successful I think it could be a great decision for Fox to run between 4 and 12 hour mini seasons of this every 18-24 months. I bet Howard Gordon saw something in the 13 episode structure of Homeland that he thought could translate back to 24.

Digitalgypsy66 wrote:I know it's apples and oranges, but which is better: The Wire or Arrested Development?

These two shows must be the most highly acclaimed shows in the modern era.

So hard to compare the 2, but AD is my favorite comedy of the modern era, while The Wire is my favorite drama (with Breaking Bad a close second). If had to pick one to watch, Id say The Wire, because it is such a deep, intense, and powerful show. AD is just hilariously brilliant.

Digitalgypsy66 wrote:I know it's apples and oranges, but which is better: The Wire or Arrested Development?

These two shows must be the most highly acclaimed shows in the modern era.

So hard to compare the 2, but AD is my favorite comedy of the modern era, while The Wire is my favorite drama (with Breaking Bad a close second). If had to pick one to watch, Id say The Wire, because it is such a deep, intense, and powerful show. AD is just hilariously brilliant.

Pretty much agree with this. The Wire makes you think. AD makes you laugh.

I didn't realize they were only going to do 12 hours instead of 24. That should help matters drastically since it eliminates the need for the weak side plots that were necessary to backfill 1/3-1/2 of the season.

With Thursday's series finale of The Office, IGN did a list of the show's 25 best episodes and damn was that show hilarious. I haven't seen it since the 2nd to last episode of season six (and it seems like I haven't missed much), but when that show was in it's prime it was amazing. Second favorite comedy behind Arrested Development.

I remember watching season 2 of The Office with my roommates and us all agreeing that if the show kept it's current pace, it would go down in history as one of the best comedies ever. Too bad it fell off big time, but it was brilliant in its early days.

I was thinking of what my favorite office episodes would be. its one of the few shows that I've seen every one of but there are just too many good ones.

I tell people who have never seen the show to watch Gay Witch Hunt or Diversity Day first. The season 3 finale The Job is probably my singular favorite episode.

This season's had a few pretty good ones, but there are few memorable episodes after Steve Carrell left. The premises of them just aren't as funny. Dwight K Schrute (Acting) Manager and After Hours are probably the two best until this year.